Sunday, April 01, 2007

Hey, Internets: Here's what's not cool on April Fool's Day. It's not cool to say so-and-so has a Great Joke up on the web. Stop spoiling the gags.

If you spot a great bit of fraud, perpetuate it. Comment on it. Go along with the gag and rope more people into it. Or just keep your frickin' fingers off the keyboard and let it be.

But please stop blogging, twittering, emailing that so-and-so has a Great Joke. We won't think you're a sucker if you pretend to fall for it. Or even if you do fall for it. We'll thank you.

If you want to heap praise on an April Fool's story or confess that you fell for it, please wait until tomorrow. And that includes A-listers. You don't get a pass on this.

Mickeleh's Take: I will never forgive the anonymous fanboy who passed me as he was leaving the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard on May 21, 1980 while I was standing in line for the second showing on the opening day of The Empire Strikes Back and who proclaimed loudly to his companions, "Who woulda believed that Darth Vader was Luke's father." It was only after I saw the film that I learned the correct response to such a revelation: Make a screwy looking face and scream, "No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-." (Yeah, it serves me right for waiting for the second showing. But hey, I was at the first showing of what was then called Star Wars on May 25th 1977 at the Charles Theatre in Boston.)